Ice Age: Vulnerable
by ShazzyLo
Summary: After the battle with Captain Gutt, The herd are on another adventure with more than one surprise.
1. Ice Age: Vulnerable - Shira's Pain -

**Chapter 1**

After the battle with Captain Gutt, the herd of unique mammals now lived in a land that was un-familiar to them. Peaches and Luis were always out exploring, sometimes Ethan and his gang would come along with them. Manny was still quite unsure about his group of mammoths. He made sure he kept an eye on his daughter, or he sent Crash and Eddie to watch her. Diego on the other-hand, since he met Shira, had been hanging around her more often. Shira had not been feeling very well lately, she had stomach pains and upset stomachs.

"Diego, I think I need to have this looked at." Shira said clutching her stomach.

"Why? Whats wrong? Its probably just a stomach ache." Diego looked at her confused.

"Well, I've never felt like _this_ before. And if its happening often, that wouldn't just be any stomach ache. I'm going to go see Ellie.

"Sounds good. But I should come with you." Diego insisted following Shira.

"Can you not leave me alone for one minute?" Shira chuckled and slowly walked with her mate.

Sid had manged to find a wild berry patch, and carelessly ate some, he then noticed after a bite, I huge sting on his tongue, he opening his mouth screaming and pulled out the creature, a bee. He threw the bee behind him and continued eating,

"Mmmm. These berries are delicious! I should take some home for Mannie! He found a big leaf to put the berries in and tied it with a vine. When he was about to leave, he heard a laugh that was oddly familiar. And it wasn't any laugh, it was a deep evil laugh. He just shrugged and continued on his way.

 **PS. I will try to post a chapter or 2 each day, if I fail to do so, I may have been busy. I will do my best.**


	2. Ice Age: Vulnerable - Surprise -

**Chapter 2**

Sid was on his way back home. He was sure he heard that laugh before.. The more he thought about it, the more he became worried.. about everyone. He started walking faster and faster. Then he heard a croak from a frog and scared himself.

"GAHH. Oh, hey little guy!" Sid said to the frog smiling.

The frog just looked at him and hopped off. Sid shrugged and kept walking.

When he finally got home, he saw everyone crowded together. He got curious about the commotion and squished through the crowd to see Diego looking at Shira smiling. So, Sid ran up to them.

"Guys, whats going on?" He specifically asked Diego.

"Well, Sid, your going to be an uncle.. again." Diego laughed happily.

Sid gazed at Shira in excitement.

"Oh! I'm so happy for you!" He exclaimed as he jumped up on Diego's head and gave him a nuggy.

"Ow! Sid!" He rubbed his sore head and continued to pay attention to Shira.

Ellie walked up to Shira and Diego smiling. "Congratulations you two! I'm sure you guys will be great parents!"

"Thank you, Ellie. I'm glad your here to help us through this." Shira smiled at Ellie as she passed by.

"Yea! Gratz, Diego!" Crash and Eddie both said at the same time. Diego just smiled.

A little while later, Mannie told everyone to give the two parents some space, and for the visitors to go home.

Sid didn't have any tome to talk to Mannie about what he had heard. He tried to get his attention, but he apparently was too busy at the time. So he decided to tell him tomorrow.

That night, Shira and Diego were in they're cave sleeping, when something awoke Diego. He wasn't quite sure what made the snapping sound. His protective instincts kicked in, he knew that he had to protect his mate from the fierce world around them, especially since she is pregnant. He got up, with his claws out, and his fur standing on end, and slowly walked toward the entrance of the cave. He glanced outside, but he saw nothing. Diego decided to stay near the entrance, just in case he heard it again.


	3. Ice Age: Vulnerable - Questionable -

p style="text-align: center;"strongChapter 3/strong/p  
p style="text-align: left;" /p  
p style="text-align: left;" /p  
p style="text-align: left;" Diego woke up from a shivering nightmare. He hated to think of it. To get his mind of it, he first made sure Shira was alright, then he went off, not too far, to get some fresh air. He slowly walked through the cold terrain of woodlands and came accross the tracks of an animal, but not just any animal, it was an apes tracks. He hesitated to follow it, but he knew that 'it' might come back to haunt them again (read the previous chapter for more details) Since he was an excellent tracker, he went ahead to track the animal down./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Shira then awoke much later. She stretched and yawned, but then she looked where Diego was. He wasn't there. She calmed herself down and thought em"He's probably just out on a hunt.. Calm down."/em She decided to walk outside the den cautiously, and headed toward where Ellie, Peaches, Luis And Manny were./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Manny, Ellie, Peaches, Luis Have you seen Diego?" She asked the three a little nervously./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "I didn't see him this morning. He's probably around somewhere." Manny said calmly./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "But, Dad," Peaches started to say, "wouldn't he stay with Shira the first day? I mean, he literally just got notified that he's a soon coming father."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Peaches has a point." Luis said. "I wouldn't think Diego would just abandon his mate and cubs that soon after he found out about Shira's pregnancy. That is very odd."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" "I have to go look for him!" Shira started to walk off./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "No! It's too dangerous for you." Peaches exclaimed./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "I'll be fine."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Well, at least have someone go with you." Ellie suggested looking at Manny./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Oh brother." Manny rolled his eyes./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Manny!" Ellie looked at him unimpressed./p  
p style="text-align: left;" " . I'm going!" Mannie and Shira started to walk off on the search for Diego./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Meanwhile, Diego was still following the tracks, but he noticed they were getting a more stronger scent. That meant that he was getting closer! He looked behind him in shock. He was far away from home.. And Shira. He realized that he had to turn back. But, something jumped out in front of him./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Captain Gutt?!" Diego exclaimed and started to back up against a rock./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Aye aye. And where do you think your going, kitty." He put on a evil grin that was not appealing at all./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "How are you still alive?" Diego asked becoming more angry./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "That is none of your concern, tiny." He yelled./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Who do you think you are trudging into my herd's territory. And my ma-" He stopped himself before he said it./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Your 'What' now?" He pressed him toward the edge of a cliff./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "It's not of your business!" Diego said./p  
p style="text-align: left;" "Oh oh oh. Is it... Shira? I knew it. And you will never see her again." Gutt grabbed Diego and threw him over the cliff./p  
p style="text-align: left;" Diego fell all the way down, yelling. He hit the bottom like a rock, but there was a layer of snow to protect him from death. He lay there, unconscious/p  
p style="text-align: left;" /p 


End file.
